Photograph: Case Antiques, Live Auctioneers

Auctioneer’s description:
Lot 266:  William Spratling sterling silver coffee pot
William Spratling coffee pot, sterling with wooden handle and finial, with stamped mark “William Spratling, Taxco, Mexico” and shield hallmark. Includes original bill of sale from 1960. Condition – Slight indentation on side of rim and one slight dent on spout. 8 1/4″ Height. 21.140 ounce troy total weight.
Starting Bid: $500
Estimate: $1,000 – $1,500

Antiques and Fine Art auction to be held Saturday, January 23rd, 2010 at 10:00 AM EST, Knoxville, TN.  You can look at more photographs and bid on this auction online at LiveAuctioneers here.

More Vintage Mexican Silver

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1.23.10 auction Spratling sterling silver coffee pot original receipt! originally appeared on Vintage Mexican Silver on January 6, 2010. Turn to Vintage Mexican Silver for the latest news about auctions and dealers in vintage Mexican silver jewelry and silverware, including mid-century modern and modernist design, William Spratling, Margot de Taxco, Los Castillo, Sigi and Antonio Pineda, Matl, Hector Aguilar, and other famous Mexican silver designers.Tweet This

Senorita Matilde Eugenia Poulat of Mexico City (Matl) attended art school and was a classmate of the great Mexican artist Diego Rivera. She began her career as a painter and designer and began making jewelry in 1934. She created pieces that feature delicate textured detailing and often used tiny coral and turquoise stones in them. Jewelry created in Poulat’s workshop was signed “Matl.”

Her jewelry has a very rich look and has been described as having “Mexican feeling without recourse to any definite Mexican motifs.” It has also been said that her work may be the most intricate to come out of the Mexican Silver Renaissance. Much of the “Renaissance” work was modernist.

Before she died in 1960, Poulat trained her nephew, Ricardo Salas, as a jeweler; he continued to create pieces in the Matl style for many years.

The blog My Vintage Taxco Silver showcases vintage Taxco silver jewelry belonging to “Tia Gema,” who writes it. She has some great pieces, and photographs are included. One of my favorites is a Matl (Matilde Poulat) necklace.

Additional information about Matl and photographs of her jewelry are available at the Online Encyclopedia of Silver Marks, Hallmarks, and Makers’ Marks.  The wonderful book Mexican Jewelry by Mary L. Davis and Greta Pack has quite a bit of information about Senorita Poulat and good photos as well.

I found some wonderful Matl jewelry on eBay:

Matl (Matilde Poulat) Vintage Mexican Silver Jewelry originally appeared on Vintage Mexican Silver on May 25, 2009. Turn to Vintage Mexican Silver for the latest news about auctions and dealers in vintage Mexican silver jewelry and silverware, including mid-century modern and modernist design, William Spratling, Margot de Taxco, Los Castillo, Sigi and Antonio Pineda, Matl, Hector Aguilar, and other famous Mexican silver designers.Tweet This

Recently I came across this article by Karla Klein Albertson, published at Auction Central News in December. I’m not sure how I missed it, but I did, and I’m guessing I’m not alone in that…

Mexican Silver
Written by Karla Klein Albertson
Monday, 08 December 2008 22:38

Beginning in the 1930s, silver workshops clustered in the mining town of Taxco spearheaded a revival in this traditional craft in Mexico. At the same time, the artists and artisans working there took a new direction in design that mixed age-old motifs from native cultures with 20th-century Modernism. The objects and jewelry they produced have become extremely popular with discerning collectors. Each piece provides a hands-on aesthetic appeal when used or worn. In other words, this silver makes daily life a little more beautiful.

In their early November sale, Cincinnati Art Galleries offered a large group of Mexican silver at auction, many of the pieces from a single collection. Karen Singleton, normally the firm’s art glass expert, explained, “This was the first time we had a round of Mexican silver. I accepted the lots because I keep telling them that we could sell more than pottery and glass.” The pieces were signed by many important makers in this field including William Spratling, Frederick Davis, Hector Aguilar, Los Castillo, and Margot de Taxco. Read the rest of the story……

Above vintage Mexican silver jewelry and silverware photographs courtesy Cinncinnati Art Galleries

For vintage Mexican silver collectors – Karla Albertson article originally appeared on Vintage Mexican Silver on May 7, 2009. Turn to Vintage Mexican Silver for the latest news about auctions and dealers in vintage Mexican silver jewelry and silverware, including mid-century modern and modernist design, William Spratling, Margot de Taxco, Los Castillo, Sigi and Antonio Pineda, Matl, Hector Aguilar, and other famous Mexican silver designers.Tweet This